Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My boyfriend has celiac disease, so he can’t eat gluten. There are tons of gluten free cookie options available in stores, but many of them contain cornstarch, which he also has a sensitivity to. So, I made it my mission to figure out a recipe that he would be able to eat (and enjoy!). Because let’s face it, a lot of the gluten free treats out there are far from appetizing.

Luckily, my mission didn’t have to last long, because my first attempt was a success! I found a generic recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and made a few alterations to make it gluten free.

When substituting the flour in a recipe with a gluten free alternative, it’s important to do it the correct way. In general, using a gluten free flour mixture that is comprised of 2 parts flour (i.e. white rice flour, brown rice flour, coconut flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, etc.) and 1 part starch (i.e. potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch, etc.) should work out. I used coconut flour, arrowroot flour, and potato starch in my cookies, and this combination seemed to work quite well. The coconut flour gave the cookies a little hint of a coconut taste, which blended well with the oatmeal flavour. Just a word of warning: use a little less coconut flour than required, to avoid ending up with a crumbly mess (see my Gluten Free Pancake Fail blog post for more details).

Another important part in gluten free baking is using a binding agent to prevent the cookies from crumbling. Since the glutens are missing, you will need something else to hold the dough together. A small amount of guar gum or xanthan gum can be used for this purpose. I purchased a bag of guar gum because it was less expensive than xanthan gum. It’s also interesting to note that this “gum” is not exactly what you would imagine it to be. It actually comes in a powder form, and only becomes sticky once liquid is added.

The cookies, as seen above, look extremely delicious. But looks can often be deceiving… However, when put to the taste test, my boyfriend loved them! He immediately asked me to make more. And I have to agree, these cookies are absolutely wonderful, and taste nothing like gluten free cookies normally do. If I didn’t know they were gluten free, I would have thought they were ordinary, freshly baked cookies!

For a step-by-step tutorial on how to make these gluten free cookies, be sure to check out my YouTube video, which can be found below. Don’t forget to rate it and subscribe to my channel 🙂